And so to 1976; we’re in the back half of the Seventies people! There are no world-shattering events this year that I could see. Gerald Ford defeats Ronald Reagan to become Republican presidential candidate, but is himself beaten by Jimmy Carter in the election itself. Viking 1 lands on Mars, Viking 2 later in the year. Jobs and Wozniak found Apple.
In the UK there is a drought and heatwave
in the summer, which I can remember. Harold Wilson resigns as Prime Minister
and is replaced by Jim Callaghan, and various rulings are made concerning
Northern Ireland which will only worsen the Troubles – the removal of special
status for IRA prisoners, and the dissolution of the Consitutional Council
leading to direct rule by the UK over Northern Ireland.
Pol Pot and the Khmer Rouge consolidate
power in Cambodia, the military Junta take charge in Argentina, Israel attempts to rescue hostages in the
Raid on Entebbe. Business as usual.
And so back to the music:
My first exposure to this album was through
Vic Reeves and Bob Mortimer’s spoof folk group. Not Mulligan and O’Hare, this
was the earlier incarnation Tinker’s Rucksack, with their song “Summer of ‘75”.
And, I guess, the album was actually recorded in 1975 even though it was
released in January 1976.
One of the most famous tracks on here is
Show Me The Way, featuring extensive use of the talk-box that became so
associated with Frampton that he now sells them. But, just as “rambling group”
Tinker’s Rucksack were “not all walking”, Frampton is not all talk-box.
In fact the only other track that he uses
it, in an entire double album, is on the barnstoming concert closer Do You Feel
Like We Do, where he does a bit of call and response with the audience in a nice
little breakdown. Beyond that, it’s mostly pretty polished rock. Frampton pays
homage to some other acts, with a cover of the Stones’ Jumpin’ Jack Flash, and
a funky track titled Doobie Wah that “borrows” the riff from the Doobie
Brothers’ Without Love.
Although nothing really leapt out at me as
brilliant, it was all so smoothly done that this in itself is an achievement.
It’s a double album but I didn’t get Side Three Blues. It’s a live album, but
one that really feels like it captures the exhuberance of the occasion, and
not one where either some tracks sound a bit ropey and ragged compared to the
studio, nor one where reasonable studio tracks get dragged out to ten minutes
of noodling. No, it’s all solid material, all the way through.
And that, perhaps, is why Frampton isn’t as lauded as he might be (well, that and a bad accident that almost stopped him completely, thankfully he’s recovered and still playing). But listening to some of his playing, I think he’s as under-rated as Clapton is over-rated.
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| It's not all walking. |
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